Cat Owners: Do you put collars on all your cats? Breakaway Collar warning.

missD

missD

O.G.
May 29, 2006
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#1
We tried the breakaway collar on Baozi (our 7 month old Scottish Fold) today and it did NOT turn out well.

He was NOT annoyed by it and is a pretty easy going cat to begin with. However, during wear, we believe he was grooming his chest and his bottom jaw got caught in it!!!!!!! The darn "breakaway" collar did not break off! Luckily, hubby saw him scampering around frantically and was able to disconnect the frigging collar. Baozi was scared and drooling terribly! Nothing was damaged, his teeth, lips, and gums were fine. I don't even want to think how it would be if we weren't home.... We gave him some water and cuddled him to sleep soon after that. Hubby felt so angry he flung the collar across the room!

Now we go by the "2 finger" rule when it comes to tightness - our other cat has never had a collar problem. So we're dumbfounded on how Baozi got caught. We're not sure if his overall "face build" (since he's got a flattish short face + snout) made it easier for him to bend his whole face down and lick himself too close to this collar. However he did it, we're not putting him in a collar again. He's strictly indoor and we'll be microchipping him at our next vet appointment.

Breakaway collar owners please beware. There are a lot of horror stories I've read tonight about breakaways not really doing their job.
 
#3
it happened to my sasha once, i didn't have it tight enough and it happened when i was playing with her. she looked shocked and i didn't realize until 10 sec later. i couldn't break it away and she went under the bed. she was able to take it off. i put it back on and i made it tighter. we both were freaked out.
i am glad your hubby was there to help baozi.
 
#4
Thanks for the warning. My cats (all tabby cats) can't reach the place where the collar rests on their neck with their mouth. If Baozi is a strictly indoor cat, then yes he doesn't need a collar. Since your Baozi is a kitten, try again when he grows bigger, then he won't be able to reach. If you do get him one, you probably need to watch him when you put it on at a stretch until he gets used to it and leaves it alone. For mine, I like to hear where they are if they are running about the house.
 
#5
Sorry this happened to you OP! I know how much of a fright it is! It happened to me as well but it did snap off... I realised that the 2 finger rule does not apply to kittens because they're still so tiny and their jaw reaches where the collar sits!!

I read up about breakaway collars before buying them and they said to try to snap it off yourself to see how much force is needed for it to actually breakaway. The proper ones shouldn't need much force at all.

The ones I bought are from ROGZ, I noticed they had a kitten sized collar so I got one for Boris, our 6 mth old munchkin last month and it hasn't happened again! It's been very very handy to know where he is in our house! I used to not be able to find him! hahaha
 
#6
missD said:
We tried the breakaway collar on Baozi (our 7 month old Scottish Fold) today and it did NOT turn out well.

He was NOT annoyed by it and is a pretty easy going cat to begin with. However, during wear, we believe he was grooming his chest and his bottom jaw got caught in it!!!!!!! The darn "breakaway" collar did not break off! Luckily, hubby saw him scampering around frantically and was able to disconnect the frigging collar. Baozi was scared and drooling terribly! Nothing was damaged, his teeth, lips, and gums were fine. I don't even want to think how it would be if we weren't home.... We gave him some water and cuddled him to sleep soon after that. Hubby felt so angry he flung the collar across the room!

Now we go by the "2 finger" rule when it comes to tightness - our other cat has never had a collar problem. So we're dumbfounded on how Baozi got caught. We're not sure if his overall "face build" (since he's got a flattish short face + snout) made it easier for him to bend his whole face down and lick himself too close to this collar. However he did it, we're not putting him in a collar again. He's strictly indoor and we'll be microchipping him at our next vet appointment.

Breakaway collar owners please beware. There are a lot of horror stories I've read tonight about breakaways not really doing their job.
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Oh my gosh that sounds scary - I'm glad your little guy is OK MissD.

I use 100% elastic stretch safety collars on my cats when they have their garden playtime. . . at least they can wriggle out of the stretchy collars. When they come indoors the collars come off.

If my cats were indoors all the time I wouldn't collar them at all because no cat collar is risk free and it's scary to think about what could happen when you're not around to rescue them :sad:
 
#8
One of mine has had a collar since she was a kitten, never had a problem. We have put collars on the other cat but they mysteriously disappear. He might have one on for a few hours, even a few weeks but they will always disappear. I have never seen him try and get it off either which is even more strange.
 
#9
I had the same problem happen to one of my cats. Luckily I was sitting right there when it happened. I've since taken collars off of the two indoor cats and only leave one on the outdoor cat. He is too fat to be able to bend his neck enough to catch himself on it anyway. :biggrin:
 
#10
Glad everything turned out ok!

We actually have breakaways for our two dogs. They're Italian Greyhound and jump around all over the place, so I thought these would be better than regular collars. :thinking:
 
#11
I had a collar on my indoor cat, but had to take it off because it was irritating his neck and ears (he has allergies and is very itchy all the time!). I think it's a good idea to put collars on animals, even if they're indoors (or have microchips), because it gives a quick visual cue to someone that the animal isn't a stray. Also, I've heard horror stories about having your cat microchipped but the shelter that it ends up at doesn't have that kind of microchip reader, etc. When he did wear his collar, his mouth got caught on it as a kitten because it wasn't tight enough.. his mouth just slipped right back out by the time I had noticed it though.
Even though my cat doesn't wear his collar it does come in handy when I need to put an E-collar on him (which is unfortunately pretty frequently due to his skin condition), so I don't regret buying it.
 
#13
i put the collar on my cat...not just b/c she looks so darn cute w/ it :P but also easy for me be aware of her whereabouts. tho i live in a studio but there were a couple of times i had to look for her.
 
#14
i had break-aways on my cats due to ONE cat. and wouldn't you know it.. that cat figured out how the breakaway worked... he would PURPOSELY get his jaw under it and snap it off.... the little booger...
so because he can get it off and he's the only reason they were wearing them (he likes to sneak outside) - i figured i wouldn't deal with it anymore. i even had cute little star name tags made for them :sad:
 
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